Sandringham outscored, outmuscled and outplayed Casey to win by 103 points at Trevor Barker Beach Oval last Sunday.
The massive win was engineered by Xavier Clarke (34 touches) and David Gallagher in the middle and evergeen full-forward Nick Sautner, who kicked eight goals. Other contributors included Saints-listed types Matt Maguire, Robert Eddy (29 touches) and David Armitage (24 disposals). Big Ben McEvoy dominated the ruck and luckily for Sandringham, was hindered only briefly by an ankle complaint.
The Zebras played sublime footy in the opening quarter of the year, slamming home a match-winning nine goals to two. From there, the rot never stopped for Casey, who struggled to muster any scoreboard pressure.
In a major statement to the rest of the competition, the Zebras were too strong at the contest for their Casey counterpart, who cracked like eggs on Easter Sunday. Full-back Alex Silvangni was among the casualties - the hit on his ribs in the second term ended his day and summed up the Scorpions fortunes.
Casey coach Peter German, in his first VFL outing, had few positives, apart from the glistening form of 2008 VFL Team of the Year member James Wall. New recruit Peter Faulks, who showed signs at Centre Half Back, allowed Wall to ply his trade through the middle.
Captain Kyle Matthews freakish abilities also shone on a dark day for Casey. The little tyro steered a brilliant final quarter goal through to delight both sets of fans.
Last Modified on 16/04/2009 17:40